Manchester City star Jack Grealish has broken his silence on social media after his spat with Stefan Savic marred Wednesday’s Champions League tie against Atletico Madrid. Grealish called Savic an unsavoury name before the Montenegro international responded angrily by pulling his hair.
City booked a Champions League semi-final clash with Real Madrid after a 0-0 draw at the Wanda Metropolitano, progressing 1-0 on aggregate following last week’s narrow triumph on home soil. But Felipe’s late red-card challenge on Phil Foden was the catalyst to the final stages embroiling into chaos.
Over 20 players and staff from both teams were involved in a heated melee, contributing to nine minutes of stoppage time. Cameras caught Grealish calling Savic a ‘c**t’ among the on-field carnage before the ex-City centre-back pulled his hair. In the dying hours of Wednesday night, Grealish reacted to the Citizens’ triumph on Instagram.
Taking to his Instagram story, the English winger posted an image of the City players celebrating, captioned: “Well done the boys! Into the semis.” He also responded to Gabriel Jesus’ story, a picture of the pair in high spirits at full-time, with two blue love hearts.
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After a VAR review, Savic somewhat surprisingly escaped with a yellow card. But the hostilities continued off the pitch after full-time, with Savic and other Atletico players coming to blows with the visitors in the tunnel, prompting at least four police officers to intervene.
On punditry duties for BT Sport, Rio Ferdinand praised Atletico’s performance after the La Liga champions limited Man City to just one shot on target throughout the entire match. But he labelled the hosts’ late antics ’embarrassing’ and highlighted Savic for criticism.
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“Some distasteful behaviour,” the ex-Manchester United defender said. “The Atletico players should be embarrassed with all the antics. Savic especially. You have to say well done to Atletico for how they played. They made Man City play in a way we haven’t seen for a very long time.
“They took them out of their stride, [and] made the game fast and furious, ugly. City had one shot on target all game, when could you say that before? Well done to City they went through in the end, but some of the things we saw at the end of the game, it’s not what you want to see.”
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